In six simple words, one of the top executives for Quicken Loans Inc. founder and chairman Dan Gilbert can summarize the highly profiled businessman’s ambitions for Detroit.

“As we kind of say, ‘To do good and do well’ -- where we can work hard and accomplish great things for the city, but at the same time put together profitable investments for ourselves and our investors,” said Matthew P. Cullen from Quicken Loan’s worldwide headquarters, 1050 Woodward Ave., inside the Compuware Building in downtown Detroit.

Cullen is president and chief operating officer of Rock Ventures LLC, an umbrella entity formed to provide operational coordination, guidance and integration to Quicken Loans and Gilbert's vast portfolio of companies and investments.

Cullen, a former General Motors Corp. executive who was instrumental in the automaker’s $500 million acquisition and development of the Renaissance Center, speaks with optimism about downtown that many might call ambitious; but since 2008, he has worked side-by-side with Gilbert, 49, who has quickly become one of the most well known people in the Motor City.

“I think the rate of change is really going to accelerate,” Cullen told MLive Detroit. “Dan is ‘all in,’ as he would say.

According to Cullen, more businesses will move downtown if they know it's financially sustainable, which is what Gilbert is trying to achieve with his investments.

Since Quicken Loans moved to Detroit in 2010, Gilbert has purchased the Chase Tower, 611 Woodward Ave., a 14-story building near Campus Martius; the Madison Theatre Building, 1555 Broadway St. in Grand Circus Park, which will house Detroit Venture Partners; a parking deck; and the Dime Building, 719 Griswold, and its parking. According to reports, he's also signed a purchase agreement for the 25-story and nearly half-empty First National Building, 660 Woodward Ave.

And Cullen, who wouldn’t release any exact details, said more investments are expected.

“We’re pretty opportunistic when we see an opportunity that looks attractive,” he said. “I think you will see some consistent themes -- we have sort of a geography that we are concentrating on, which is lower Woodward -- but not necessarily exclusively.

“We want to support the whole notion of ‘live, work and play.’ ”

While the “notion of ‘live, work and play’ ” is not a new idea, few have made the commitment that Gilbert has to all three in downtown Detroit.

Besides the building purchases, Gilbert has had a hand in bringing CityLoft -- a pop-up mall with 41 stores from the Somerset Collection in Troy -- to downtown Detroit; formed a partnership with Jim Ketai called Bedrock Real Estate Services, a full service property management firm that will handle the buying, leasing and redevelopment of the commercial properties; invested in an unknown amount of money into philanthropies; and spurred other companies, such as GalaxE.Solutions, to move downtown; along with other things that (most likely) his inner circle only know about.

Cullen said one of the main goals of the investments involving “Detroit 2.0” and “Webward Avenue” is to build upon what has already been achieved by previous organizations and people, such as the Ilitch and Karmanos families; Sue Mosey, president of the civic group Midtown Detroit; and GM.

“(We want to help get the city over the) proverbial tipping point, where it can start to sustain itself and incentives to move downtown are no longer necessary,” Cullen said. “Where people are just committed to being here because they think it is the place to be.”

This year, Quicken Loans, along with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Compuware Corp., DTE Energy Co., and Strategic Staffing Solutions announced a $4 million program offering cash incentives for employees who choose to live downtown.

The incentive program -- a collaboration between the five companies -- is based on the Live Midtown incentive program, which is meant to attract young talent to Detroit that will demand additional retail and residential options.

Officials believe if businesses can bring people to the city, residential living will follow, and then retail storefronts will fill in the gaps of unoccupied businesses.

But just how long it will take to “fill in the gaps” is unknown.

“We need to stay together as a community,” Cullen said. “Sometimes our city and our region get a bit (divided).

"It’s kind of our history," he continued. "We’re getting past it, but we need to challenge that all the time.”

“I think in five to 10 years, you’re going to see a very vibrant downtown
with two to three times the amount of residential that is here today;
with transit; a lot of new high-tech, entrepreneurial jobs being
created; and a much different city then we’ve lived with for the last 20
years or more,” Cullen said.